Häagen-Dazs, the iconic luxury ice cream, once again surprises consumers as it launches its first ever Valentine’s Day limited-edition variant. The on-trend floral Cherry Blossom flavour will be available online through a partnership with Ocado to mark Cupid’s special occasion.

Staying true to last year’s brand reset, which focused on recruiting millennials and its commitment to driving authentic product experiences, Häagen-Dazs ‘says it with flowers’ this Valentine’s with Cherry Blossom. Channelling a much-celebrated Japanese influence, the ice cream is brought to life by using a delicate Sakura extract, an essence of Japanese cherry blossom flowers to which a tangy cherry sauce swirl is added to complement its subtle flower tasting notes.

The limited-edition packaging design was the result of a collaboration between Häagen-Dazs and Kitty McCall – an internationally renowned print and textile designer from Britain. Kitty’s core products include art and textiles with bold, graphic and floral designs applying her unique style to crafting a contemporary, enchanting design for the Cherry Blossom packaging.

“We are going through a very exciting time at Häagen-Dazs, which kicked off with our major brand reset last year and triggered 42% growth. This limited-edition flavour epitomises what the relaunch is all about – exciting, indulgent flavours that appeal to a more diverse, younger millennial demographic, while also keeping our quality and flavour innovation promise to our loyal generation X customer base. The launch of Cherry Blossom is timed to capitalise on Valentine’s Day which is one of our biggest periods in terms of brand demand in the year and it is our first e-commerce exclusive launch. We wanted to celebrate Valentine’s Day with an on-trend Asian flavour, our second Japanese inspired ice cream after the Green Tea Matcha, number one flavour in Asia, that we brought to the UK through our St Pancras pop up store last summer,” said Arjoon Bose, UK Head of Marketing for Häagen-Dazs.

“For the Cherry Blossom packaging, we are continuing to work with world class designers having started in 2016 through our collaboration with Jardins de Babylone (for our limited edition floral collection Lychee Rose Raspberry and Apricot Levender launch in Liberty), global designers (for our brand reset packaging in 2017) and Swedish fashion brand designer Bjorn Borg (for the 2017 Wimbledon Strawberries and Cream stick bar) to which Kittie McCall is now adding.”